"My experience has been it has been tougher to give a tax break that would take money from [transport funds]," state economist Greg Albrecht said.

Louisiana school buses operated by municipal and parish
boards would be exempt from paying fuel taxes if legislation
introduced Friday passes during the upcoming legislative session, which begins
April 8. The fuel tax goes into a state fund dedicated to road construction and repair. No estimate of how much revenue that fund would lose as a result of the exemption is yet available.

Metairie students try to catch their passing school bus. Legislation introduced Friday (Feb. 8) would exempt municipal and parish school boards from paying fuels tax for school buses.Brett Duke/NOLA.com|The Times-Picayune

House
Bill 24, sponsored by State Rep. Sherman Mack, R-Livingston,
would exempt "from state fuel taxes fuel sold
to or consumed by school buses owned and operated by a parish or municipal
school board."

Legislative Fiscal
Office economist Greg Albrecht said the exemption would reduce the amount of money going to the state's Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), which is financed by
a $0.20 per gallon state gas tax.

Albrecht added the
office has not estimated how much of a reduction to the TTF
the legislation would trigger, but said the bill might encounter some difficulty in the state Legislature.

"My experience has
been it has been tougher to give a tax break that would take money from the
TTF," Albrecht said Monday. "It's coming from roads. So it's a tougher tradeoff there," he added, noting transportation funding has always been a hot-button issue with constituents, especially in rural areas.

According to the
office, the TTF is expecting $592 million this fiscal year. While the proposed school bus exemption "may be small relative to that, it may be important to a
particular school board," Albrecht said.

Under current law, only contracted drivers of privately
owned school buses qualify for a refund of three-fourths of the gasoline
tax and special fuels tax. This refund is paid for out of the individual
parish's transportation fund.

Going forward, Albrecht said the
Legislative Fiscal Office would contact municipal and parish school boards to
begin estimating the share of buses they own and operate.

Keep
watching NOLA.com for more on bills filed ahead of the 2013 Legislative
session.